(Reopens FGN5)

Twenty-nine spellers had relatives who participated in a combined 67 Scripps National Spelling Bees and two of this years spellers - Jairam and Srinath Mahankali - had siblings who previously won the Scripps National Spelling Bee.

Robert Rosenberg, the grandfather of speller Cooper Komatsu, competed in 1955, and Mira Dedhias mother, Lekshmi Nair, competed in 1988, 1989 and 1990.